Top-ranked Iga Swiatek defeated Danka Kovinic 6-3, 7-5 on Saturday to enter the fourth round of French Open in Paris. This was her 31st consecutive win, the longest in women’s tennis since Serena Williams won 34 in a row in 2013. (More Tennis News)
Swiatek, the 2020 French Open champion, has now collected 48 of the past 49 sets she has played. And the Polish star has improved her career record at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament to 17-2, a winning percentage of .895.
But the win at Court Philippe Chatrier against 95th-ranked Montenegrin was not entirely smooth sailing for Swiatek. Her forehand was a particular trouble spot, the stroke was responsible for 17 of her 23 unforced errors.
The 20-year-old from Poland dropped four straight games to trail 5-4 in the second set before righting herself and claiming the last three to wrap up the win in 90 minutes.
Kovinic was playing in the third round at a Grand Slam tournament for the second time. The other was at the Australian Open in January, when she lost to eventual champion Ash Barty.
Swiatek meets Zheng Qinwen, who became the fourth Chinese woman to reach the fourth round at the French Open, next. The 74th-ranked Zheng was leading 6-0, 3-0 when her opponent, France’s Alize Cornet, stopped playing because of what she said was a torn muscle in her upper left leg.
Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania, Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Camila Giorgi of Italy also entered the fourth round in women's singles.
In the men's singles, second-seeded Daniil Medvedev entered the fourth round for the second straight year at Roland Garros. The reigning US Open champion, beat No. 28 Miomir Kecmanovic 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.
The 26-year-old Russian has not dropped a set through three matches this week. He faces 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic, who defeated French wild-card entry Gilles Simon 6–0, 6–3, 6–2, next.
Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Mikael Ymer of Sweden 6–2, 6–2, 6–1 at Court Suzanne Lenglen. It was a straightforward match for the last year's runner-up, but 11th seed Jannik Sinner saved 11 set points in the second set on the way to beating Mackie McDonald 6-3, 7-6 (6), 6-3 in the third round.
(With AP inputs)
